The Racing Post Trophy will be run at Doncaster on Saturday 27th October. This race was the brainchild of the late Phil Bull and his righthand man, Reg Griffin, and was originally known as the Timeform Gold Cup when it was first run in 1961. The purpose of the race was and still is to provide a worthwhile opportunity for high class two year olds bred to stay to race for a valuable stake over a distance commensurate with their stamina. The race is run over a round mile in preference to a straight mile. The race was not designed with the aim of providing a good guide to the following year’s classics. Indeed since its inception in 1961 not many winners have gone on to win a classic or a Group 1 in the following season as will be seen from my collation of previous winners. The Timeform organisation sponsored the race for four years and then in 1965 the race became known as the Observer Gold Cup. In 1976 it became known as the William Hill Futurity Stakes and then in 1989 the Racing Post took over sponsorship and have maintained it ever since. This years race looks as though it could go to Curtain Call from Ireland. He looks a worthy favourite on what has been seen so far. For your racecard with the runners and riders go to the sporting life. Now here are those previous winners :-
1961 Miralgo
1962 Noblesse ( won the Oaks in 1963 )
1963 Pushful ( on the disqualification of Scissors )
1964 Hardicanute
1965 Pretendre
1966 Ribocco ( won Irish Derby and St Leger in 1967 )
1967 Vaguely Noble ( won Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1968 )
1968 The Elk
1969 Approval
1970 Linden Tree
1971 High Top ( won 2000 Guineas in 1972 )
1972 Noble Decree
1973 Apalachee
1974 Green Dancer
1975 Take Your Place
1976 Sporting Yankee
1977 Dactylographer
1978 Sandy Creek
1979 Hello Gorgeous
1980 Beldale Flutter ( won Benson and Hedges Gold Cup,York in 1981 )
1981 Count Pahlen
1982 Dunbeath
1983 Alphabatim
1984 Lanfranco
1985 Bakharoff
1986 Reference Point ( won Derby, King George VI Queen Elizabeth and St Leger in 1987 )
1987 Emmson
1988 Al Hareb
1989 Be My Chief (race run at Newcastle)
1990 Peter Davies
1991 Seattle Rhyme
1992 Armiger
1993 Kings Theatre ( won King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1994 )
1994 Celtic Swing ( won Prix Du Jockey Club Chantilly in 1995 )
1995 Beauchamp King
1996 Medaaly
1997 Sartoga Springs
1998 Commander Collins
1999 Aristotle
2000 Dilshaan
2001 High Chaparral ( won Derby, Irish Derby and Breeders Cup Turf in 2002 )
2002 Brian Bora ( won St Leger in 2003 )
2003 American Post
2004 Motivator ( won Derby in 2005 )
2005 Palace Episode ( Dylan Thomas finished 6th ! Look what he has done )
2006 Authorized ( won Derby in 2007 )
It will be interesting to see if this year’s winner is able to progress next season. As you will observe not many winners of this race have gone on to a Group 1 success in the following season, although the trend has started to alter since 2001.
